It is important to perform regular maintenance on parking garages in order to extend the life of existing parking structures and maintain a clean, functional presence for the public who park in your garage. This includes both steel and concrete rehabilitation. A parking garage restoration firm can come on site and make these parking garage repair evaluations for you and structure an annual program for your parking garage. Types of restoration that can be performed are: overhead concrete replacement, full-floor concrete replacement, post-tensioning and post-tensioning repair, carbon fiber installation, steel plating and bracing, shotcrete installation, plaza rehabilitation, deck waterproofing systems, including joint sealants, traffic deck coatings, concrete sealers and expansion joint sealing systems.

Maintenance of a parking garage is key. Areas to look for in maintenance of parking structures are; Structural systems: Floors in parking garages can show cracks, expansion joints, unevenness across cracks, delaminating of concrete, shifting in the floor surfaces. It is good to inspect drain locations where water settles in a parking garage. Inspection of floors of parking garages should be every three months. Framing components in a parking garage are comprised of the building’s columns, beams and spandrel panels. These are often constructed of steel, concrete or steel-encased concrete. Look for places where the concrete has cracked and where the reinforcing materials are exposed and corrosion has set in. Framing components in a parking structure should be inspected every three months. Walls and towers in parking garages should be plumb. If you see cracking on the wall surfaces, stair treads become misaligned or the expansion joints may open up. Walls and towers of parking garages and concrete parking structures should be inspected quarterly. Connections in a parking garage are places where the structural system components are bolted, welded or grouted in place and should be carefully examined for corrosion, cracking, spalling or distress. Connections should be inspected on a quarterly basis.

Parking garages constructed of concrete can be particularly susceptible to the negative effects of stress. Movement-induced stresses can result in concrete cracks. These cracks can reduce load carrying capacity, create the potential for leakage and facilitate intrusion of chlorides and other harmful chemicals into the parking structure. When stress cracking is identified in a parking garage, it’s important to quickly identify the cause of the problem and correct it. A growing number of parking garage owners are relying on carbon fiber reinforcement products to supplement the existing load capacity of their structures, and permanently and cost-effectively reinforce and repair stress cracks in their parking garage. Up to 10 times stronger than steel reinforcement, carbon fiber reinforcement is ideal for parking structure applications, because it is lightweight, easy to handle and apply and completely inert and non-corrosive. The sooner you address the cause of the cracks — and the sooner you execute a carbon fiber repair, the less likely you are to have major and costly structural problems further down the road. A parking garage expert will be capable of examining your garage and making determinations on carbon fiber reinforcement.